Vitamins Are Vital

By: Jean Carper

If I were in charge of the world's health, all 6 billion of us would take a multivitamin/mineral pill every day.

That is also the dream of Bruce Ames, a world-renowned researcher on antioxidants and nutrients at the University of California, Berkeley, and Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute.

Poor diets, Ames says, may condemn millions of Americans to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, leading to suboptimal health and mental achievement. "That's inexcusable," he says, "when a daily multivitamin/mineral supplement costing around $25 a year can correct the deficiencies that cause the harm."

Who should worry? More than half of Americans, Ames says--notably the young, the poor, the elderly and the obese, all of whom may have at least one vitamin/mineral deficiency. Particularly worrisome: low levels of folic acid, zinc, B12, B6 and, in premenopausal women, iron. Developing fetuses and growing children are especially vulnerable.

Clearly, our bodies and brains can't function optimally without enough vitamins and minerals. Your body is like a car engine; taking a pill that supplies 100% of the recommended daily value of nutrients gives it a "metabolic tuneup," improving cell efficiency and discouraging disease, Ames says. "It's inexpensive insurance with no downside and the potential for enormous health benefits."

The latest evidence on the benefits of popping a pill

Higher kids' IQ. Ten out of 13 studies show that giving children multivitamin/mineral pills raises their non-verbal IQ scores as much as 30%, reports psychologist David Benton, of Britain's University of Wales Swansea. Benton estimates one-third to half of all children have mild unsuspected nutritional deficiencies that can be corrected by multivitamins.

Fewer infections. Taking multivitamins for a year boosted immune functioning and cut infections, such as the flu, 40% in diabetics and 50% in the elderly, compared with taking a placebo, according to tests at the University of North Carolina and at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Less heart disease. In a new Swedish study, men who took multivitamins had a 20% lower risk of heart attacks, and women had a 35% lower risk, than those not taking supplements.

Less cancer. Harvard studies show that taking multivitamins containing folic acid cut the risk of colon cancer by 50% in women with a family history of the disease.

Fewer cataracts. Taking a multivitamin pill for more than 10 years slashed the risk of this cause of clouded vision by 60%, says a study by ophthalmologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

What the expert takes
Nutrient researcher Ames takes a daily multivitamin/mineral pill with the recommended amounts of various nutrients, plus an extra calcium and magnesium pill. He also takes 500 milligrams of acetyl-L-carnitine and 200mg alpha lipoic acid twice a day; his recent research suggests those may improve age-related heart and cognitive problems.

Frightening fact: Vitamin deficiency = DNA damage
You wouldn't think of deliberately exposing yourself to atomic bomb fallout or excessive X-rays. But failing to take in enough vitamins and minerals puts your cells in the same danger. Cells lacking vitamins and minerals suffer DNA and mitochondrial damage. Under a microscope, it looks as if the cells were irradiated.

This damage could cause you to age prematurely and could lead to cancer and degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. The groundbreaking discovery was made by researcher Bruce Ames and his group.

Bad cell: When you don't feed your cells enough vitamins and minerals, they get the same damage caused by radiation.